EduTrends

February 2, 2012

How Tablets Will Revolutionize Education?

Filed under: Assessment, EduBrite Solution, eLearning, K-12 — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — afperets @ 1:20 am

How Tablets Will Revolutionize eLearning

Hand an iPad to a two-year-old, and within seconds, she’ll figure out how to turn it on. Unlocking it might take her a try or two, but show her how, and she’ll get it. In just a few minutes, she’ll be able to swipe with more precision than many adults, and she’ll master the full range of gestures faster than you can imagine – even if you’re watching her in action.

The intuitive nature of most touchscreens – and of the iPad specifically – make tablets a natural choice for education markets. They’ve already stormed the special education world, replacing outdated, clunky devices with streamlined, cool apps. And more high schools, colleges, and business are beginning to integrate tablets into their educational bag of tricks. So what are some of the ways tablets will help revolutionize education?

  1. Enhanced textbooks. Tablets bring text to life, with images, video, audio, and real-time interaction. In fact, the term “textbook” is probably a bit of a misnomer — today’s tablets sport apps designed from the ground up for innovative online learning platforms.
  2. Concentrated learning. Unlike laptops, most tablets force you to focus on one thing at a time. Studies have shown that multitasking isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and forcing students to pay attention to the topic and hand may lead to a real revolution in education – and learning.
  3. Lower costs. Skyrocketing costs have put higher education out of reach of the masses. Tablets may help change that by eliminating the market for costly new versions of hardcover textbooks and obscure materials. Content subscriptions will enable users to access the materials they need when they need them – and update them as necessary.
  4. Immersion learning. The connectivity of a tablet combined with its small form factor means that when a student is at home reading information, he can supplement it with discussions, demonstrations, Q&A sessions, and more – essentially creating an extended classroom experience within a text.

The future of education is being written on small screens. What do you think? What will tablets bring to the table?

Image by Michaela.

January 25, 2012

Instructor-Led Training vs Self-Paced Learning: Pros & Cons

Filed under: EduBrite Solution, eLearning — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — afperets @ 11:31 pm

Instructor-Led v Self-Paced Learning: Pros & Cons

One of the first decisions an organization has to make about training is the format: instructor-led, or self-paced? Obviously, cost is a major determining factor, but what else needs to be considered?

Typically, self-paced learning experiences can be rolled out quickly to large groups of people all over the world. Instructor-led training, on the other hand, is necessarily limited in both group size and roll-out speed.

An employee who is out sick the day of an instructor-led training misses the program and must be re-taught – often at great additional expense, and not without its share of logistical headaches. But self-paced learning affords employees opportunities to take the training when they can – and to go back and review parts of it as necessary.

Another disadvantage of instructor-led training: the skills taught may not be put into practice for weeks – or even months. When it comes time to actually use what they’ve learned, employees may not remember everything the instructor said. And the class may be different every time it’s presented – meaning employees may not have a consistent training experience.

A great facilitator, however, can share material in such a way that users actually go through the experience of using what they’re learning – essentially creating an experiential training that sticks with users. Follow-up with the instructor, too, can be – if not priceless, then at least extremely valuable – for employees and companies.

But of course, that great facilitator comes at a price. A top-tier instructor can command few tens of thousands of dollars for a day training, when you figure in preparation, travel, and other expenses. You can spend a lot on online course development, too – but it’s not a necessity.

An instructor-led training can be quickly and easily revised. The instructor can quickly check that everyone in the room understands what’s being taught – but you can only train the people you have in the room.

If you hire a custom course developer, changing your course may be difficult – or prohibitively expensive. But a modular solution may offer the level of customization you need at the right price point – with built-in, on-the-fly flexibility.

What’s the most effective training you’ve attended? Which solutions give your organization the most value?

Image by Sarah Stewart.

January 18, 2012

Top 10 Blogs for Corporate Trainers

Filed under: eLearning, Social Learning — Tags: , , , , — afperets @ 9:02 pm

Top 10 Blogs for Corporate Trainers

One of the easiest ways to get yourself up to speed on – well, anything, really – is to read the blogs of those who are living your field of interest and making things happen there. It can feel a little strange to break into a new space and start reading, but the best bloggers invite you to join in the conversation. And before you know it, you’re part of that group of people who are making things happen in your field of interest.

Whether you’re new to eLearning or a seasoned pro, the blogs we’ve highlighted here have something to offer. Take a look – and be sure to share any blogs you feel we’ve missed in the comments.

  1. The American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) Learning Circuits blog focuses on one “big question” each month. Anyone is welcome to submit a post on that question – and the results are some of the best minds in the training world sharing thoughts and ideas. Not only will you find great questions and answers, you’ll undoubtedly discover some great new thinkers as you see what others have to say.
  2. Clark Quinn’s Learnlets features small, concentrated bursts of knowledge. Read Learning Experience Design thru the Macroscope for a taste. Also don’t miss his post on how he became a learning experience designer (a term he prefers to instructional designer).
  3. Cathy Moore’s Making Change promises “ideas for lively elearning” – and she delivers. True, she hasn’t posted much this year – but the archives. Oh, the archives. Check out Do we really need narration? from 2010 – and don’t forget to read the comments, too. Cathy’s been blogging less but tweeting more lately, so consider following her on Twitter if you like what you see.
  4. If you’re interested in the theory behind social learning, take a look at Jane’s Pick of the Day, by Jane Heart. Her monthly roundups highlight the great thinking going on in this community, and if you’re not into twitter, you’ll appreciate her new approach to blogging: summarizing her tweets for the day into one easy-to-read post. (By the way, if you are into twitter, these summary posts are a great way to help ease some of your readers into that new medium.)
  5. Tom Kuhlmann writes the Rapid E-Learning Blog. Don’t let the fact that he works for Articulate fool you – this isn’t a corporate mouthpiece blog. Tom gets into the heart of what works – and what doesn’t – in elearning. If you only have time to read one post, go for 7 Tips for Better E-Learning Scenarios.
  6. Tom Gram blogs at Performance X Design and seems to read everything that’s published in the learning and training space. Take a look at his still-relevant e-Learning: What’s Hot and What’s Not from 2009 – but don’t miss out on his more recent comment.
  7. At MinuteBio, Jeffrey Goldman discusses tools and strategies for optimizing e-learning. You’ll find some laughs (Signs of Being in e-Learning Hell), and some very thought-provoking conversations as well.
  8. Life in Perpetual Beta is the excellently-written blog of Harold Jarche. Read The Relevance of the Learning Profession, then read the followup piece. When you have time, go back and read everything else he’s written, too – but those two are the must-reads.
  9. Ready to push towards free online learning? Then head over to elearn space, written by George Siemens. His posts on open online learning keep you current with what’s happening – and his straightforward style is easy to read.
  10. The E-Learning Curve Blog by Michael Hanley is admittedly more academic than most blogs – but hey, we’re talking about learning, right? And it’s not stuffy, boring academia – it’s exciting and enriching information. If you’re just getting started in instructional design, start with Part 1 of Michael’s ongoing series.

Now it’s your turn. Wheat blogs fill your RSS reader? Where are you commenting these days? Let us know!

Image by Sam Churchill.

January 5, 2012

The Future of Corporate Training

Filed under: eLearning, Social Learning — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , — afperets @ 8:24 pm

The Future of Corporate Training

The easy way to write this post would be to give you a list of some cool new technologies that are going to define the eLearning space in the near future – say, the next 6 – 12 months.

That’s not what we’re going to do here.

Instead, let’s talk about what’s actually happening in corporate training departments all over the world. We have several different forces at work here, including the employees who ask for specific training in a given area; the training and compliance group, who want a cost-effective training that works; and the external development companies who want to justify their price tags.

Over at the Internet Time Blog, Jay Cross says flat out:

Poorly implemented eLearning is a more expensive alternative to doing nothing at all, and often the results would be the same.

Yikes. But when you think about it, it makes sense. We’ve all seen examples of poorly implemented elearning – the kind that make you want to scream, “Clicking NEXT is not interacting!” Or, perhaps worse, courses that integrate flashy interactions that look cool and high tech – and serve no real learning purpose.

If employees don’t have the information they need when they need it, then your course is ineffective. Worse, you’ve wasted organizational time and money – and perhaps across vast numbers.

The future of corporate training needs to be better. It needs to be less focused on pushing content out to users and instead geared towards convincing uses to pull the content they need in real time.

At the Rapid E-Learning Blog, Tom Kuhlmann gives a great overview of push versus pull learning. The nutshell is that with push learning

you’re not focusing on designing the content as much as you are creating reasons to use the content.

That’s what the future of corporate training must be: a return to the fundamental principles of instructional design. A focus on delivering content that users can find when they need it so that they access it, learn it, and use it.

Photo by Bora OZUTURK

December 13, 2011

EduBrite Personal Edition – Release!

Filed under: Assessment, EduBrite Solution, eLearning, K-12, Social Learning — Tags: , , , , , , , , — Manish Gupta @ 7:31 pm

EduBrite has launched the newest offering - EduBrite Personal Edition.

What is EduBrite Personal Edition?
A light weight training solution for individual trainers, educators or group leaders in any organization, helping them conduct formal or informal trainings and assessment for their small group of trainees, students or team members. It allows creation of online quizzes, surveys and courses, share them with participants and track their responses and progress.

Key features delivered in the personal edition

  • Create quizzes and surveys, with 10 different types of question format including multiple choice, fill in the blanks and matching
  • Create online courses by dragging and dropping any existing presentations or documents (Word, PDF, PowerPoint, Audio, Video etc.)
  • Add You Tube videos in the courses
  • Add SCORM packages in the courses
  • Invite participants via e-mail, to take the course, quiz or survey
  • Track the progress, activities of participants and usage of the content

Simple to start

  • Visit us at http://www.edubrite.com and click the button “Sign up free!”
  • Signup for Personal Edition as a user (all you need is an email id)

Now get ready to begin training your trainees, employees or students.

Additional help

April 6, 2011

Building On Demand Training Business

Filed under: Assessment, EduBrite Solution, eLearning, Integration — Ajay Upadhyaya @ 3:27 am
Educators and trainers often see technology as a cost to their business rather than viewing it as revenue generator. They often see investment in technology as a second priority, and try to map existing offline processes to any tool they evaluate for purchase. The reason for this is historical ways these products were marketed and used. But that is not the best use of technology, the real value of technology is to use it for new ways to deliver the learning and create new business models. Just like the dot com era e-commerce businesses grew rapidly in late 90s, Internet promises to spread the education in next 5 years. Never before we were blessed with all the necessary ingredients to deliver rich online experience like cheaper bandwidth, ubiquitous connection thru smart phones and tablets, stronger content protection options to prevent piracy and Y generation which is never out of touch with the network.
To create an on demand business for education and trainings, flavors of several types of products are required in the right quantity, namely Content Management, Ecommerce, Learning Content Management (LCMS), Learning Management (LMS), Analytics and Tracking, and CRM (Customer Relationship Management). Plain and simple, all the ingredients are equally important for the business, and EduBrite offers just the right solution for this problem.

EduBrite offers powerful features for creating an online training business:

  • An authoring process for making online tests using MS Word, rather than requiring to learn any new authoring tool, and also allowing creation of content in offline manner.
  • Course authoring by reusing existing content from Video, Powerpoint, PDF and other documents
  • Deliver online tests and assessment exams for internal site users as well as external candidates
  • Deliver eLearning courses thru built in Course Player, and track the progress and usage precisely. No need to buy separate course authoring tools
  • Self paced as well as blended delivery
  • Several packaging options for courses and tests, you can offer preview lessons and tests to users before they buy the complete package
  • Online payment integration with Paypal, CCAvenue
  • Manage multiple courses and offer courses to batches of trainees
  • Create and manage your website, or integrate learning funcationality in existing website
  • Manage customer database and contact information
  • Provide various discounts to your buyers thru online coupon codes



March 28, 2011

EduBrite and Alfresco Integration for Course Developers

Filed under: EduBrite Solution, eLearning, Integration — Tags: , , , — Ajay Upadhyaya @ 7:31 am

Curriculum and course developers often are faced with a need to have solution that combines the content authoring, robust repository, course delivery and tracking. EduBrite’s Alfresco integration combines the power of Document/Content management system with a fully functional social collaborative learning management system to create an end to end solution for the learning content development to consumption.

Alfresco is an open source document and content management system which offers several key features for curriculum development.

  • Extensible workflow to model any business process
  • Robust document repository, versioning Business Rules Customized metadata, search
  • Permission control, Groups
  • WebDAV support to access the content repository as network shared drive

EduBrite’s Alfresco  connector module provides bi-directional integration and adds new features in both Alfresco as well as EduBrite LMS. In Alfresco, it creates customized content objects and workflows. The customized content object adds several additional attributes like subject and skill level  and adds several repository actions to manage the state of the content object and trigger content approval workflow. It provides a repository browser and allows importing course content from Alfresco in EduBrite LMS.


Content Developers map Alfresco as shared network drive on their desktop, and create  a working folder in their desktop which they can sync with the mapped drive. The custom actions in alfresco repository handle the check-in and workflow integration behind the scene, so all content gets versioned.


Once the content is ready and approved, it can be imported as lessons in any course from EduBrite LMS. The alfresco connector can be used to browse the alfresco repository and pick any folder to import in the course recursively.


The courses are then authorized to groups and trainees for the learning programs. EduBrite Edge servers can be utilized to deploy the training content on remote locations (To support the low bandwidth/no internet connection scenarios). All the interaction learners have with the courses is tracked by EduBrite LMS and is made available for reporting.

January 25, 2011

EduBrite Assessment available in Google Apps EDU

Filed under: Assessment, EduBrite Solution, eLearning, GoogleApps, Higher Education, K-12, OpenSocial, Social Learning — Tags: , , , , , , — Ajay Upadhyaya @ 7:05 pm

EduBrite has added its Assessment product in EDU category of Google Apps Marketplace which is launched today.  EduBrite Assessment in Google Apps offers several benefits like Single Sign On with Google Apps, User Provisioning and OpenSocial gadget to deliver assessments and surveys inside iGoogle. Apps administrators can signup for the Assessment product from the product listing page in the apps marketplace and create an EduBrite microsite for their domain.

Administrators can easily setup all their domain users in microsite and start assessing the users who could be students in schools and colleges or professionals taking trainings in corporates. With OpenSocial gadget, users of the iGoogle can access all features of EduBrite Assessment without leaving their iGoogle page. EduBrite Assessment offers several ways to deliver the assessments like practice tests, quizzes, scheduled exams, assignments, surveys & peer reviews. It also provides authoring tools for creating the tests and surveys online.

Learn more about EduBrite Assessment for Google Apps

November 3, 2010

Gilly 0.91 – Exam Subscription

Filed under: Confluence, EduBrite Solution, eLearning, wiki — Ajay Upadhyaya @ 7:02 pm

New version of Gilly 0.91 is available, it is compatible with Confluence 3.4 (which was released in Oct) and also adds a new feature to allow subscription to exams from confluence which was requested by few users who used 0.91

In previous version of Gilly, confluence admin was required to subscribe the users to the exams in CBT micrsoite, but now confluence users can do it themselves (if exam is configured to allow free subscription). A new menu item Available Exams is also added in the Dashboard and Browse menu to view available exams which can be subscribed. This is going to help the use cases where you will setup few exams upfront for your employees and they can take the exams anytime they want. Administrators get notified when someone takes the test in exam. for more information check the Gilly page

 

Subscribe to Exams from Confluence

 

 

October 18, 2010

Proctoring agency support in EduBrite Assessment Solution

Filed under: Assessment and Certification, EduBrite Solution, eLearning, TenPlusTwo Feature, TenPlusTwo Solution — Tags: , , , , , — Somashish Gupta @ 5:38 pm

This weekend we released our proctoring agency and test center support for the Assessment and Certification solution. This would be of immense help to those who want to experience the huge benefits of conducting online testing and assessment as a SaaS model but at the same time want that extra security to ensure that all tests are taken fairly.

The use of the proctoring agency feature is extremely simple. EduBrite sets up the information regarding the proctoring agency and its test centers in consultation with the company or institute who wants to conduct their assessment. While setting up the exam, one or more test centers from the available list can be designated for this purpose. Test center administrators would need to unlock using their username and password for a candidate to take the test.

List of assessments

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